Jean Houston

Dr. Jean Houston, "scholar, philosopher and researcher in human capacities, is one of the foremost visionary thinkers and doers of our time. She is long regarded as one of the principal founders of the Human Potential Movement.

"In 1965, along with her husband Dr. Robert Masters, Dr. Houston founded The Foundation for Mind Research. She is also the founder and principal teacher of the Mystery School, a school of human development, a program of cross-cultural mythic and spiritual studies, dedicated to teaching history, philosophy, the New Physics, psychology, anthropology, myth and the many dimensions of human potential. This school is in its 24th year and takes place on both the East and West Coasts. She leads an intensive program in Social Artistry with leaders coming from all over the world to study with Dr. Houston and her distinguished associates. This program in innovative leadership strategies is now in its 6th year. She is the Founder as well as the Program Director of the International Institute for Social Artistry.

"She is a prolific writer and author of 25 books including A Passion for the Possible, Search for the Beloved, Life Force, The Possible Human, Public Like a Frog, A Mythic Life: Learning to Live Our Greater Story, and Manual For A Peacemaker. Her book Jump Time explores a new Global Paradigm and speaks boldly of a regenesis of human society. The questions raised in this book and the exciting suggestion of possibilities are producing new pioneers - Social Artists - working on the frontiers of this new global society.

"As Advisor to UNICEF in human and cultural development, she has worked to implement some of their extensive educational and health programs, primarily in Myanmar (Burma) and Bangladesh. In 1998, Dr. Houston worked with leaders throughout New Zealand to help bring forth that nation’s promise. With other international agencies, she has implemented the social development of indigenous people through the integration of their unique cultural gifts into their health and educational systems. In September of 1999, she traveled to Dharamsala, India as one of the distinguished group chosen to work with the Dalai Lama in an informative and advisory capacity. Her advisory work with the Dalai Lama has continued.

"Dr. Houston has also served for two years in an advisory capacity to President and Mrs. Clinton as well as helping Mrs. Clinton write, It Takes A Village To Raise A Child. As a high school student she worked closely with Mrs. Roosevelt on developing strategies to introduce international awareness and United Nations work to young people. She has also worked with President and Mrs. Carter and counseled leaders in similar positions in numerous countries and cultures.

"She has worked with several corporations including Xerox, Beatrice Foods, General Electric and Rodale Press. She has also worked with governmental agencies, including the U.S. Department of Commerce, the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment and the Department of Energy.

"Since 2004 she has been working with the United Nations Development Program, training leaders in developing countries throughout the world in the new field of social artistry. To date this training has occurred in Albania, the Easern Caribbean, Kenya, Nepal, and the Philippines. In March of 2007 she traveled to Nepal where she trained leaders from 12 Asian countries in the principles of social artistry in order to effect positive gains in the millennium development goals.

"A past President of the Association of Humanistic Psychology, she has taught philosophy, psychology, and Religion at Columbia University, Hunter College, the New School for Social Research and Marymount College, as well as summer sessions in human development at the University of California at Santa Cruz and the University of British Columbia. She was Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the University of Oklahoma in that university’s Scholar-Leadership Enrichment Program in 1982.

"In addition, Dr. Houston presented the William James Lecture at Harvard Divinity School, the Orr Lectures at Wilson, and the Alfred Stiernotte Lecture in Philosophy at Quinnipaic College. She has spoken at hundreds of colleges and universities all over the world.

"She has chaired, among many other academic and scientific convocations, the 1975 United Nations Temple of Understanding Conference of World Religious Leaders. Under the sponsorship of the Department of Commerce, she helped to initiate and then chaired the 1979 Symposium for leading government policy makers.

"Her work has been the core of a myriad of teaching-learning communities throughout the world. In particular, in 1984, she created a national not-for-profit organization, The Possible Society, to encourage the creation of new ways for people to work together to help solve societal problems. Giving seminars to large groups of citizens in 17 cities throughout North America, she established ongoing teaching-learning communities devoted to the enrichment of their citizens and the betterment of their cities.

"In 1985, Dr. Houston was awarded the Distinguished Leadership Award from the Association of Teachers Educators. In 1993, she received the Gardner Murphy Humanitarian Award for her work in psychology and the INTA Humanitarian of the Year award. In 1994, she received the Lifetime Outstanding Creative Achievement Award from the Creative Education Foundation. The following year, she was given the Keeper of the Lore Award for her studies in myth and culture. In 1997 she was made a Fellow of the World Business Academy and in 1999 she received that Pathfinder award from the Association of Humanistic Psychology. She was given the prestigious Millennium Award in 2000 from Magical Blend Magazine as well.

"Her PBS Special, A Passion for the Possible, has been widely shown and publicly acclaimed. Her book of the same name was drawn from the program and published by Harper San Francisco in August of 1997.

"A powerful and dynamic speaker, she holds conferences and seminars with social leaders, educational institutions and business organizations worldwide. Jean Houston has worked intensively in 40 cultures helping to enhance and deepen their own uniqueness while they become part of the global community. She has lectured in over 100 countries and is the recipient of a multitude of awards. She works at all levels of leadership and her ability to inspire and invigorate people enables her to readily convey her vision - the finest possible achievement of the individual potential. That same ability lets her share with her audiences and students throughout the world, the excitement of that possibility."


 * Global Council on Spirituality & Deep Ecology, World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality
 * Visionary, The Vision Project
 * Faculty Chair, Wisdom University